Graham Fraser spends his days immersed in French-English friction. And yet he can’t get enough of linguistic challenges. He’s taking up Spanish in his spare time.

"It’s a very elementary, one-night-a-week, adult-education course," Canada’s Official Languages Commissioner said in an interview lundi chez nous at Le Chronicle Hérald.

The boffin of official bilingualism has no grand illusions about becoming trilingual. Que sera sera. But now he knows from personal experience that learning a third language is much easier than learning a second one.

I wish we discussed this stuff more — the joys and rewards of learning another language (personal bilingualism) instead of the frustrations, failings and dysfunction that often come with developing a federal civil service conversant in both French and English (official bilingualism).

Sadly, official bilingualism has a habit of rearing its ugly head — not its sexy side — in the news. On that score, it’s a lot like bilateralism. We focus on the irritants in Canada-U.S. relations 90 per cent of the time, instead of the opportunities, which are 90 per cent of the real story.

And so it is that we’ve been treated to the unseemly spectacle of a pair of federal appointees being hung out to dry in the Commons because they can’t master Molière’s mother tongue.

Here’s my two cents worth.

It’s mind-boggling how head hunters managed to come up with a unilingual nominee from New Brunswick for the post of auditor general. The initial job description did state "proficiency in both official languages is essential." Indeed. The AG answers to Parliament, where interaction with French-speaking MPs is key. It’s not just that. The AG is a senior public figure who should be able to produce reports or field questions from the media in either official language.

What about the Supreme Court? While it’s preferable for all its justices to be bilingual, I don’t think it’s essential. Yes, 30 per cent of the cases that come before the top court arise from Quebec, and are argued in French. Yet rare is the case that will be heard by all nine judges together. The bulk of the court’s workload is handled by subgroups of three, five or seven. So there’s lots of ocean for an Anglo-only fish to swim in here.

Besides, when the nine convene for a joint session, they don’t sit through lengthy trials. They weigh arguments on appeal. You’re lucky if they’ll give you 20 minutes of yak time before the red light comes on. The Supremes also have access to the best translators, so it’s highly unlikely they could miss a note.

I’m more concerned that we’re missing the boat on the other side of the equation. The personal bilingualism rate among youth is 24 per cent. It quickly drops when they hit adulthood because we drop the ball.

Kids should be perfecting their French in college, or even using their French as a platform to launch into Spanish, à la Graham Fraser. After all, Latin America is a major emerging market for Canadian and Nova Scotian products, and the U.S. will soon be half Hispanic, whether it likes it or not. By abandoning, rather than honing, our built-in language advantage, we toss an economic asset down the drain.

It’s not just me saying this. It’s economist Elizabeth Beale. She told me last month that student exchanges should be multiplied across the board to whet our appetite for foreign languages and cultures. It’s relatively inexpensive and hugely effective.

If you first cultivate a genuine interest in furthering language studies, then personal motivation will follow. Ultimately, there’s no substitute for that.

For example, federal bureaucrats who need to upgrade their French to upgrade their jobs are now taking advantage of online tools to ramp up their proficiency on their own time. Mr. Fraser says managers tend to reward those who put in a real effort, and send them off to intensive language school faster. This is helping shape a new attitude.

"There became a kind of culture of entitlement. You know, ‘You want me to speak French? You train me.’ Well, a model of ambition is actually a more constructive model for (getting) results, and making this understood as a value rather than as a burden."

Now all we need to do is translate that into practice in the wider world, where language skills are an even greater asset.

Comments(14)

This subject makes me so mad. I agree that learning a second or third language can make a world of difference to a person. BUT and I emphasize the word BUT because I don't want to learn 'french' and I don't think my children should be 'forced' to learn french in school. If I ever chose to learn a second language it would be one that I would choose for myself. If you can honestly tell me that the government is 'forcing' people in Quebec to learn English then I may feel differently but this is Canada. Quebec is a bully so why the heck would I ever want to learn french. Canada is proud to host a multitude of cultures so why have they singled out the need to learn only french. Its all political and for that reason I have absolutely no reason to succumb to learning a language I detest.

Agreed
Until Quebec forces all educational institutions to instruct in English as well as French, the rest of Canada should have the option to educate their childern in Only English if they choose.
You can go to the school board and have your child removed from French class, that is your choice. They cannot FORCE YOU CHILD to learn French! I had it done, so did my sister, it took a big fight, so don't be intimidated by the "progressives" in the education system. Stand up for YOUR RIGHTS!

Hi, just a quick post to let you know that English instruction is required in all Quebec schools from Grade 6 onwards, with many French schools in Quebec beginning English instruction even before then.

The problem with demanding that top government brass speak english and french isn't always going to put the the best man or woman in the job. You see it all the time in the military where often the best officers are passed over for the second best because that second best person happens to have the necessary language skills, which ninety nine percent of the time does little to advance the cause because the troops they lead are predominently english speaking. As long as we're not actually fighting, it doesn't make a lot of differnce, but when the shooting starts, having the better leader running the show would make more sense, wouldn't it?

This project to appease Quebec is simply too expensive. English is the language of the Internet and is becoming the second language in China, Japan, and much of Europe. Provide French-language services in Canada's predominantly French communities, but spare the rest of us the expense of the charade of treating French as equal nationwide.

Should you really have to be fluent in English and French to get a civil service job? I don't think so. In the case of the AG, the most qualified candidate was picked. For many years now the most qualified candidate might not have been picked, if they weren't fluent in both languages.
You have to hand it to Quebecers, they say they want the rest of Canada to be bilingual, and up to now they were able to deny civil sevice jobs to the unilingual, which more often than not were English speakers. In other words a thinly disguised federal employment program for Quebecers.
But in Quebec, now they are promoting "interculturalism", explained this way: "interculturalism emphasizes the common link between all Quebecers, native-born or otherwise: the French language. "It's the idea that we hope to get to the point where immigrants and people who are born here interact with each other in French. These repeated exchanges have the effect of integrating immigrants into society," says Michel Seymour, a philosophy professor at Université de Montréal." - MacLean's, February 18, 2011. No multiculturalism for Quebec, not to mention, the language police in the workplace and the sign police outside the workplace, and they tell you what schools your children can attend.
And look at what Air Canada had to go through when the intolerant Michel Thibodeau demanded service in French, though he can speak perfect English. The Official Languages Act should be scrapped, or at least be modified in a major way. And certainly, the Bilingual Packaging and Labelling Act should be tossed in the round file.

Try if you can to get service in English, try in vain to demand the same standards that the French demand-and get. Look at the sur names of most of the public service executives,look at the sur names of the high ranking military, then try to convince me and millions of others that we are getting the best and the brightest.For God's sake even the head of the Afgan force could not keep his primal urges in check. If anyone was to try to convince me that these persons were promoted on pure ability, I would have to call upon none other than Rick Hillier to come forward and tell it like it really is. Politically correct, or politically foolish either way we the majority of this country are the losers, all for the sake of a dying language, and a spoiled province.

AS noted by some commnetors the internet and the financially powerful nations of the world use English as their 2 nd language..and as a result FRENCH is a dying language......in Canada most of the bureaucrats in all the Federal departments or should I say all of them are French,either Quebecois or Acadian.... there are 33 million people in this country and 8 million French 1 st language...25 million people being held as hostage to a 2 nd language..where Canadians federal civil servants,military ,Mounties ,all the departments ... people are loosing promotions,raises and long term pension benefits because they do not speak french.......this affects morale,and discriminates ......those who wish to remain unilingual Canadians......The Charter and Language rights protect and allow this process to continue..........it is not equal in anyway... and is as noted a charade that is starting to become a very serious issue...just to make Quebec happy....the English have families to look after also........

Politics caused Canada to become bilingual, bilingualism has made Canadian politics confusing and expensive. No matter which politician is making a speech, or which of the two official languages he or she is speaking, a translator is necessary for those who only speak the other language. Speak only English, the language of the majority of Canadians from the two founding nationalities, and we can do away with at least half the translators, not to mention eliminating repetition of ideas being expressed and the time consumed in doing so.

It is so good to hear more people writing about the abuse of the policy of Official Bilingualism. The policy was instituted by the Liberal governments of Pearson and Trudeau and neither of them envisaged that it would be so badly administered or misinterpreted by successive governments, even Conservative ones. The OLA refers to the policy being implemented "where numbers warrant" - what it didn't do, unfortunately, was to define that phrase. Since then, French politicians like Lucienne Robillard have used their power to put in place such as ruling as "all senior positions must be made bilingual imperative" which, we have seen, favours French speakers and only French speakers. After over 40 years of this policy, forcing the priority status of French, the policy has resulted in a bureaucracy that is over-whelmingly made up of French speakers and over-represents that segment of the Canadian population, totally against the precepts of democracy. It has led to the useless expenditure of billions, money that could have been better spent for the whole country, not just a small portion of it. To add insult to injury, Quebec has rejected bilingualism and passed too many laws that discriminates too blatantly against its English-speaking minority. Do we wonder why more and more Canadians are saying, "Let Quebec Go"? Let us stop allowing the tail to wag the dog!!!

The key as well is that an English speaking person can learn french but must learn it so intimately that they will be more fluent than someone who was raised in french. The law has been twisted and it is time to let it go. French is not an international language and therefore not as importatnt.

..and if they won't, state quite clearly that this is North America, where the predominant language is English. We don't provide Mandarin services in Vancouver, where there are a hellova lot more people speak Chinese than speak French, so why do we waste money on French?

I strongly urge every Canadian to work assiduously for Quebec independence at the next referendum, which should be put to ALL Canadians. Think of the money saved once the golden pipeline from Ottawa to Quebec City ceases to pump money. The cost of the whole bilingual nonsense, the megabucks wasted on icebreakers keeping the port of Montreal open all winter, appeasement dollars to improve infrastructure in Quebec.....the list goes on and on!